ꜱᴛᴜᴄᴋ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴍᴇ- ᴋɪʟʟᴜᴀ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ [OLD]

11- 𝘊𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘹 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘹 𝘢 𝘹 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘹 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭

The large gate opened almost immediately after Quinn straightened themself out. Almost as though it was plot convenience. We walked inside to find a woman with blue hair that was sticking in all directions wearing a mesh top and a large man with brown hair and a yellow shirt.

"Will all of the applicants who passed the first phase please enter?" The woman spoke. Granting her request, we all stepped inside carefully. "Welcome all. I'm Menchi, your examiner for the second phase." She smiled.

"Likewise, I'm Buhara." The man behind her informed us. A wave of silence washed over the large group of fellow wanna-be hunters. I wasn't sure why, but the atmosphere felt much tenser than before. This somewhat awkward silence was broken by Buhara's stomach growling. 

"What was that?" One of the more oblivious examinees thought aloud. 

"Sounds to me like you're getting hungry." Menchi turned to Buhara and smiled. Come to think of it, I was beginning to grow pretty hungry myself.

"Not just hungry; I'm famished!" Buhara exclaimed. Menchi stood up quickly.

"Well, there you have it! The second phase," She paused for a little bit, creating a bit more tension among the group. "Will be cooking!" Menchi pointed out to the crowd. I let out a small sigh of relief. Because I was practically an orphan, I learned how to cook for myself. When Will left, he left a bunch of recipes for me to look at. I wasn't the best chef, but I had a fair amount of knowledge.

Unfortunately, not all of my fellow examinees shared my opinion. "Wait, we're cooking?" Said a man in a red scarf. Next to him, there was a man who was in a black shirt.

"What do you mean we're cooking?" He exclaimed. I don't understand why there was such an outrage over this. If anything, starting this little fit just showed how frail this man's ego really was. "We came here to take the hunter exam!"

"That's right. The second phase of the exam will be preparing a meal that will satisfy our pallets." She grinned. I was mentally praying that my dish would at least be considered edible to these people. As I said, I had some cooking knowledge, but these guys are food critics. Meaning that something that would be considered good to me would just be considered garbage to them. If you multiplied your standards for food by about 10, you'd probably get their standards.

"Why do we have to cook?" Another crowd member asked. Menchi closed her eyes, smiling.

"Don't you know? It's simple really." Her eyes shot open almost immediately after making that little remark. "Because were gourmet hunters!" I let out a small hum.

"Gourmet hunter..." I said, experimenting with the way the word felt on my tongue. It seemed interesting enough, but it was admittedly kind of a strange idea. The guy in the black shirt just laughed and the rest of the crowd was quick to follow him in this. My eyebrows furrowed out of anger.

"Talk about a letdown." and other retorts of mockery filled the area. It was honestly kind of sad to see grown men acting like middle school boys. Menchi took a deep breath in and had a disappointed and angry look on her face. She let out a small grunt of anger.

"So, you're both Gourmet hunters. And what exactly do you want us to make?" The man asked sarcastically after breaking out of his laughing fit.

Anger was still all over his face. "Buhara." The man stomped his foot after she mentioned his name.

"Today's required ingredient will be pork!" He exclaimed. Oh great. Pork was one of the ingredients I worked the least with. I mean, if it couldn't be made in a microwave I was usually done for. I was tempted to turn around right now and head home, but I might not see these friends ever again, and that thought didn't sit right with me.

"Pork? You mean, Like pig meat?" Someone shouted. I rolled my eyes.

"No, they mean horse meat." I shouted sarcastically. Killua let out a small chuckle while Kurapika looked at me like a stern mother catching their child misbehaving. "What?" I whispered.

"You can use meat from any species of pig in Visca forest. As you can see, you'll use these cooking stations to prepare your pork dishes." Buhara shouted, ensuring this information would get to anyone. "To pass the exam, you must create a dish to satisfy our discriminating pallets."

"But we won't be evaluating taste alone," Menchi said while folding her arms. "So take this seriously. Is that clear?" She snarled. "When we both have eaten our fill, this portion of the exam will be over."

"Okay enough talk. Let's just get to it, alright?" The guy who was complaining earlier waved his hand dismissively. 

"Let the exam's second phase," Buhara exclaimed "Begin!" He smacked his stomach that then produced the sound of a gong somehow. We took this as a sign to get started and began scrambling around the forest to look for pigs. I walked over to where Quinn was standing, which was by the large gate we walked in through.

"Everything okay?" I asked, patting their shoulder. They jumped up a little bit but turned at smiled at me.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Their eyes seemed to be filled to the brim with worry. I sighed, upset that they felt the need to lie to me.

"No, you're not. What are you worried about, Quinn?" I let go of their shoulder. "And don't create some fake cover story or say that you're just tired to stop me from helping you." A small frown was painted on my face. Their eyes widened a little bit, but then their face returned to their normal expression.

"It's nothing you need to worry about." They sighed. "Besides, you'd probably just tell me to get over it and that I'm fine." Quinn's inky blue hair moved a little bit because of the slight breeze. 

"It is something I need to worry about. You're my friend and I'm supposed to be here for you. Pretty sure this is how that works anyway." I chuckled a little bit. Quinn stayed silent, but they seemed more relaxed than before.

"I'm just a bit worried that I'm not gonna be good enough," Quinn confessed after a little bit of silence. "For my dad." They said after a little bit, their cheeks turning red out of embarrassment. I grabbed their cheek.

"You're more than good enough. You need to get the thought that you're not out of your head. Understand?" I said, my voice getting a bit lower. Their face was a little bit pinker than before, but they seemed to be okay.

"Yeah. Thanks." They said, fumbling over their words a little bit.

"Now, come on! We got some pigs to catch!" I laughed, grabbing their hand and running off with them.